Equipment

Cockatiels, like all the other birds, need to fly. So you should let them free in your house once a day at least (several times per day is better). I really think that keeping a bird in a cage all day long and never let him go out is cruel.

Don't worry, it will be easy to put them back into their cage. Anyway, if you meet some difficulties the first days, just wait until they are hungry, and they will go back in their cage from themselves.

Their cage should be large, with toys in it (don't buy them from shops, just invent them!): I have placed a crown of straw (for Christmas) in my birds' cage, and they enjoy pulling strands out. I even find Leo sleeping on it sometimes! To avoid the droppings in my house, I have made a "game" made of tree branches tied with raffia on the top of the cage: so when they are playing on it, the droppings fall directly into the cage!

Once I had given them a plant to eat (be careful, some plants are poisonous for cockatiels). They liked it very much, and it only took them a few weeks to eat up the plant. But they kept on going in the pot, so I let it on the cage, and they love go in it and scratch the earth.

Their perch =>